Cleveland Transit was a municipal bus operator based in the former county of

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

in northern England, operating from 1974 until its purchase by the

Stagecoach Group Stagecoach Group is a transport group based in Perth, Scotland. It operates buses and express coaches in the United Kingdom. Stagecoach was originally founded in 1976 as ''Gloagtrotter'', a recreational vehicle and minibus hire business. Dur ...

in 1994.

History

The

non-metropolitan county A non-metropolitan county, or colloquially, shire county, is a subdivision of England used for local government. The non-metropolitan counties were originally created in 1974 as part of a reform of local government in England and Wales, and ...

of Cleveland was formed by the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, incorporating the

County Borough of Teesside The County Borough of Teesside was a county borough in the north-east of England, which existed for just six years. It was created in 1968 to cover the Teesside conurbation which had grown up around the various port and industrial towns near t ...

and other authorities including Hartlepool. Its new districts were

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in County Durham, England, with a population of 84,815 at the 2021 UK census. It gives its name to and is the largest settlement in the wider Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is part of Teesside and the Tees Val ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

, Langbaurgh-on-Tees and

Hartlepool Hartlepool ( ) is a seaside resort, seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is governed by a unitary authority borough Borough of Hartlepool, named after the town. The borough is part of the devolved Tees Valley area with an estimat ...

. Upon this reorganisation in April 1974, the six-year-old Teesside Municipal Transport's operations became a joint council committee of the first three of these districts, named Cleveland Transit. The municipal operation provided bus and coach services in the new county for the next twelve years, adopting a green and primrose livery for its fleet. Cleveland Transit standardised on a fleet of Northern Counties-bodied Leyland Fleetlines, which were rebodied in the 1980s, Bristol VRs and

Dennis Dominator The Dennis Dominator was Dennis Specialist Vehicles, Dennis's first rear-engined double-decker bus chassis. It was launched in 1977. History Dennis Specialist Vehicles, Dennis had been absent from the bus manufacturing market since the l ...

double-decker bus A double-decker bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. Double-deckers are used primarily for commuter transport, but open-top models are used as sightseeing buses for tourists, and there are coaches too for long-distance travel. They app ...

es and

Leyland Leopard The Leyland Leopard was a mid-engine design, mid-engined single-decker bus and single-decker bus, single-decker coach (bus), coach chassis manufactured by Leyland Bus, Leyland between 1959 and 1982. History The Leyland Leopard was introduced ...

single-decks in this period, also experimentally operating a Rolls Royce-engined Leyland Fleetline converted to run on

liquid petroleum gas Liquefied petroleum gas, also referred to as liquid petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas), is a fuel gas which contains a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, specifically propane, ''n''-butane and isobutane. It can also contain some propyle ...

, the first LPG-powered double-decker in the United Kingdom, in the mid-1970s.

Deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...

in 1986 saw Cleveland Transit take on a new green, white and yellow corporate identity and be reincorporated as an '

arm's length The arm's length principle (ALP) is the condition or the fact that the parties of a transaction are independent and on an equal footing. Such a transaction is known as an "arm's-length transaction". It is used specifically in contract law to ar ...

' company. After a protracted period of negotiation between Cleveland Transit staff and the councils involved in the joint committee, during which the company became engaged in a bus war with rival Trimdon Motor Services in Stockton-on-Tees, the company was purchased by its employees in 1991 in an employee share ownership plan, with the company adopting the slogan 'Employee Owners Working for You'. Originally founded in September 1991 and responsible for contracted school services and bookable day trips, Cleveland Transit reorganised its coaching arm Cleveland Coaches in 1992, turning it into a

National Express Mobico Group, formerly National Express Group, is a British multinational public transport company with headquarters in Birmingham, England. Domestically it currently operates bus and coach services under brands including National Express. Th ...

contractor which also offered coach holidays to various destinations. Cleveland Transit purchased Kingston upon Hull City Transport (KHCT), a former municipal bus operator located in the non-metropolitan county of

Humberside Humberside () was a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in Northern England from 1 April 1974 until 1 April 1996. It was composed of land from either side of the Humber, created from portions of the East Riding of Yorkshire, West Riding of ...

that was losing £100,000 a month, from the

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

for over £2 million in December 1993. Employees at KHCT retained 49% ownership of the company and the livery of KHCT was changed to one similar to Cleveland Transit. In November 1994, Cleveland Transit and KHCT were both purchased by Stagecoach Holdings for £8.3 million. The Cleveland Transit identity was originally retained by Stagecoach for a short period, with new

Northern Counties Palatine The Northern Counties Palatine was a step-entrance 2-axle and 3-axle double-decker bus body built by Northern Counties from 1988 to 1999 in Wigan, England. The Palatine was built mainly on Leyland Olympian and Volvo Olympian chassis, althou ...

bodied Volvo Olympians being delivered with 'Part of the Stagecoach Group' slogans on the Cleveland Transit logos, however full Stagecoach identity began to be adopted for the Cleveland Transit fleet from 1995 onwards. The operations of Cleveland Transit are today part of

Stagecoach North East Stagecoach North East operates both local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group, which operates bus, coach, rail and tram servi ...

References

External links

{{Defunct British Bus Companies Cleveland, England Former bus operators in North Yorkshire Transport companies established in 1974 Transport companies disestablished in 1994 1974 establishments in England 1994 disestablishments in England